On 25th February, Merseyrail and Steve Rotherham, the Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region, introduced a new system to simplify payments and travel across the Merseyrail network. Instead of visiting a ticket office, passengers can now tap their card, phone, or watch on the readers at station platforms and ticket barriers at stations like Moorfields, Liverpool Central, and throughout the Loop.

This is a long overdue step forward in bringing our transport network up to the standard people rightly expect in 2026. Contactless payments are the norm in other major cities like London or Paris, so it’s only right that people in the Liverpool City Region have a system that’s simpler, more flexible and better suited to modern life. (Steve Rotherham Metro Mayor)

In early 2026, Moorfields installed brand new ticket barriers to support the new smart ticketing system, allowing people to pay for travel on the Merseyrail network using Debit or Credit Cards, Smartphones, or Watches. I tried the feature out a few weeks ago on the day of its launch, and it was quite interesting. Unlike the pay-as-you-go system used with Oyster or Contactless payment on the London Underground, Merseyrail caps your fare at the end of the day.

In London, there is a feature called an Out of Station Interchange (OSI), which allows you to exit a station that is within walking distance of the next station on your journey. For example, when travelling between Euston and Euston Square stations, this applies. However, in Liverpool, we don’t have a large enough system, with only 69 railway stations. The closest possibility for an OSI would be between Walton & Rice Lane on the Ormskirk and Headbolt Lane branches, although Bank Hall & Kirkdale are also within fairly short walking distances.

It will be interesting to observe how people use it and whether staff will remain at train ticket offices across the network. Most, if not all, Merseyrail stations are fully staffed and also have ticket machines at certain stations like Moorfields. The Merseyrail Network is set to expand in the coming years to places like Wigan, Warrington, and possibly even Manchester with a new rail link from Liverpool Central.

I wonder if the Merseyrail Tap & Go system will be extended to Northern services on the lines heading towards Newton-le-Willows, Hough Green, and Garswood, which are part of our City line. These lines also connect to places like Wigan North Western, Manchester Oxford Road, and both Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly mainline stations. It will be interesting to see if Rotherham and Burnham collaborate to integrate both Merseyrail Tap & Go and Northern’s Smart Card reader, and introduce a contactless payment method on Northern services.

I am considering writing a blog post about the various systems across the UK. In Manchester, the Metrolink offers a Smart ticketing system with a pay-as-you-go service similar to London’s Oyster and Contactless. I also plan to compare it to the Oyster and Contactless system on the London Transport Network. If you would like to see that, please let me know. The next phase of upgrades will involve integrating Merseyrail Tap & Go with buses, allowing users to pay for bus fares and Merseyrail fares on the go, much like in London.

With that said, I hope you’re enjoying the new contactless payment methods on the Merseyrail network with Tap & Go; the system works rather well. If you would like me to provide updates or even give you a detailed price comparison of, say, the Tube, trams, and Merseyrail, I would greatly appreciate your comments below. This helps boost the blog’s reputation and builds a wider audience.